The verdict today came after a trial that began Nov. 27 in
federal court in San Diego over a 2010 lawsuit by the Paris-based company’s Multimedia Patent Trust accusing Apple and LG
Electronics of copying video-compression technology that allows
data to be sent more efficiently over communications media,
including the Internet and satellites, or stored on DVDs and
Blu-Ray disks.

Alcatel-Lucent’s attorney, Frederick Lorig, asked jurors to
award $172.3 million in royalty damages from Apple and $9.1
million from LG Electronics. Apple was accused of infringing
three Alcatel-Lucent patents and LG Electronics was alleged to
have infringed two of the patents.

Industrywide Pool

Attorneys for Apple and LG Electronics told jurors that
their companies had already paid the Multimedia Patent Trust for
the technology covered by the patents from an industrywide
“pay-as-you-go” pool.

They said the trust is trying to broaden the scope of its
intellectual property to cover new electronic advances in the
allegedly infringing products based on technology that
supersedes the patents.

Lorig declined to comment on the verdict as did Michael
McKeon, an attorney for LG Electronics.

“We are very pleased with the verdict,” said Apple’s
attorney, Juanita Brooks. Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for
Apple, declined to comment.

Apple today lost an infringement case brought by patent-licensing firm MobileMedia Ideas LLC when a federal jury in
Delaware decided the iPhone maker misappropriated protected
technology for the handheld devices. The panel found
infringement of three patents. The judge hasn’t yet scheduled a
trial on damages.

The case is Multimedia Patent Trust v. Apple, 3:10-cv-02618, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
(San Diego).